I really enjoyed this! It did take a little while to get into but once the pace picked up I was hooked! I loved the hints into the past before getting into the flashbacks which were perfectly linked throughout! A shock twist at the end that I did not see coming at all! Well done on this one!

A quietly impressive crime novel which switches between the past and present as a retired officer gets drawn into a case with hallmarks from an earlier murder.

Competent writing underpinned by a good grip on plot and characterisation means that The Dark Hours is a satisfying read and much more than an ordinary police procedural. It deals with the brutality of murder in a realistic fashion without piling on the gore and explores the physical and psychological toll that violence - in its many forms - can have on people. The "dark hours" is an apt title for the book as characters struggle through their lives trying to deal with the after-effects of trauma.

After retiring from the police force Julia Harte moved to Cuan Beag on the east coast of Ireland to disappear. One case in particular had always upset her, 30 years ago whilst looking for a missing girl her police partner was killed. The murderer was eventually caught and jailed and has recently died but when she gets a phone call from a former boss she agrees to go to Dublin to help in the investigation of what appears to be a copy cat crime.
The suspense is gripping, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

What a clever and enjoyable book The Dark Hours is .Written in two timelines and set in Ireland I was gripped from the first chapter. The plot was brilliant and the characters likeable .I do hope we hear more about Julia Harte .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC

Murder, police procedural, set in Ireland, strong female protagonist - what’s not to like? Extremely well written, great characters, with lots of twists. I loved it!

A really good read, tense and thrilling, it keeps you turning the pages. I liked the way the book went backwards and forwards between two time periods. Julia, the main character, is likeable and easy to envisage. I very much enjoyed the author’s writing style and look forward to reading more from her.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and to the author for her excellent work.

Wow! An utterly fantastic crime, police thriller from a fresh new author that had me glued to my seat flipping the pages in anticipation or what or who was round the next corner.

Crikey, how true is it when you have to question if you ever truly know someone eek. This book gives me all the feelings from anxiety to sadness.

I truly felt for Julia at several points throughout the book. She was a fantastic protagonist, and the author developed her really well over the course of the book within the multiple timelines.

Talking of which the two timelines worked really well in this story as they gained more clues or knowledge of the crime at hand in the past and in the present.

A definite must-read for any and all thriller fans. Thank you to Netgalley & Harper Collins for a review copy.

I enjoyed the general storyline and the dual timelines which were interlinked well, I was surprised at the twist as I didn’t expect it at all!
There was something missing for me, it felt a bit dragged out at times but generally was a good book

Thanks to netgalley and HQ publisher's for this ARC. Due to be released on 30/01/2025.

The Dark Hours splits across two timelines but it's all cleverly intertwined. It runs very smoothly and I don't feel like you lose your way which is good as some time hops can make stories feel fragmented.

Julia's character is somewhat sad and I feel like she hasn't really lived due to the crime she worked on in 1994 and the way it has affected her and those around her. She readily admits that she ran away and I suppose she found comfort and company in Mutt. The story feels like it's as much about her closure to enable her to move on and live again as well as it being a thriller taking us along her journey to identify the killer.

I enjoyed going on Julia's journey with her. I didn't guess the initial killer or his connection to Julia but I did have manage to guess the second once they were introduced to us. Despite that, I did still feel the story offered a lot and I was invested in the motive behind it all and who else would be pulled into it.

By far the easiest 5 stars I’ve given this year! What a thriller!
I am so excited to read more from this author!
This book literally took me on the best rollercoaster ride- just when I thought it was going one way- it turned in a completely different direction! I am normally quite good at predicting the ending but had no clue!
Dual timelines were easy to navigate and made the suspense even wilder! This book has given me dark circles under my eyes from too much late night reading!
Excellent
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in return for honest feedback! Definitely the best ARC I’ve ever received!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I loved the way it time hopped from the case in 1994 to 2024. I absolutely loved Julia, what an amazingly complex and expertly crafted character! A very gripping story which manages to incorporate trauma and friendship into a gritty and gripping, serial killer book.

I am not sure what to say about this book other than – I loved it from start to finish. I sometimes find that slipping from one year to another in the future frustrating but in this case not only does it work really well but it makes for a great story. You get the feel of Julia as a young police woman working up the ranks, retirement and loneliness. The story is about murders, the person is caught and then is there a copycat out there many years later. Who could it be as the original killer had no family - interesting. The book takes you through the trauma of the original investigation and seamlessly into the next one. As a triller it stands up to this premise and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Great book

Couldn’t put it down . I absolutely loved this book. The characters are well drawn and the gap between the two retired cops and the present day ones is a great part of the story.

I’m looking forward to the next book

Wow! This book is a fast ride dual timeline book where little secrets and twists are laid throughout to keep you hooked. Sometimes in dual timeline books the ‘historical’ section can get a bit boring and samey after a while but Amy Jordan has managed to keep both timelines exciting and suspenseful all the way to the end of the book! 10/10 recommend for thriller lovers, Irish crime lovers and those who like police thrillers with extra twists.

A retired Detective Inspector seeks the quiet life in a little village but it's all about to be overturned when, after a 30 year gap she is contacted by her old boss. It's happened again. A killing of two young women. Bearing strong similarities to those young girls of thrirty years ago. The very big difference is that the perpetrator of those earlier crimes is now dead. The two retirees are brought in to offer their depth of knowledge of the killings and in so doing help to solve a modern murder mystery.
I'm Detective Inspector Julia Harte, please call me Julia, is a phrase you'll see recurring in the new investigation. In reality she is Mrs Harte and a civilian because of her retired status.
A really good detective thriller needs a degree of plausibility behind the motive of the killer. I didn't feel in the 30 years between the two, there was a shadow of that. Furthermore, in the first instance it had to be someone in the 'job' and in the second. someone of modest strength possibly a female. So this reduced the suspense factor. However, the rationale behind the killings stretched incredulity beyond breaking point. Indeed the insubordinate Gardai Harte's meteoric rise through the ranks beggared belief.
On the positive side, I enjoyed the locale and some of the storytelling.

I didn’t enjoy this I’m afraid.
It felt like you were supposed to know the main character already and yet from what I can tell this isn’t part of a series.
If anything, this felt like the introduction and follow up book rolled into one and it just got a little confusing with the jumping timelines and intersecting-but-not-actually-relevant storylines.

None of the characters are likeable, you get to the point where you don’t actually care what happens to anyone.
There’s no dramatic quality to the action. It all happens in quick spurts and strung throughout a long winded storyline where the main protagonist just ruminates and reflects on her past traumas.

The book doesn’t have edgy twists, instead all the reveals happen out of the blue and are then glossed over. And those reveals are extremely disappointing and outrageously irrelevant.

I don’t recommend this.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC

I loved this book! And I love Julia Harte - what a great character! I liked how the book skipped between 1994 and 2024 really easily, so it kept you refreshed as to what relevance then has with now (if you know what I mean). Great ending too. I really liked how she "threw the puzzle pieces in the air" to see how they landed - very Columbo!

Would love to read other books on this character, perhaps from when she is a younger police officer.

Great book

Loved this book - it was fully of misters and suspense and the chat were very well developed. I love the storyline and how I had no clue what was going to happy. Would recommend

A great dual timeline story- so easy to fall into and so hard to put down!
The two timelines, of Julia as a retired detective, seeking solitude in the middle of nowhere and Julia as a young policewoman, striving to become a detective are interwoven by seemingly identical crimes, but the original perpetrator died in prison so who is the copycat?
The story is complex and the investigation well paced for the armchair detectives amongst us!

Hooked from the first page!

This story was thoroughly thought out and cleverly written, with a cast of well developed characters. The dual timeline, with chapters switching between 1994 and 2024, were easy to follow and made for reading very quickly.

Whilst this was a dark and sometimes emotional story, there were moments of lightness and camaraderie between the characters which made for an entertaining and more believable read. I think a well-seasoned crime/thriller reader will foresee a few of the “twists”, as I did. However, this didn’t detract from the enjoyment or the suspense I felt when reading. The unravelling of both cases was well paced and plenty of “just one more page” moments kept me up to 4am to finish.